1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a translucent self-supporting enclosure for building structures.
2. Description of Related Art
Italian Pat. No. 182,164 discloses a self-supporting assembly for enclosing building structures and more precisely for realizing vertical and horizontal enclosures in civil and industrial buildings so as to achieve protection against external agents. These enclosures should therefore have, if possible, a high insulation factor. According tot he patent mentioned, the said self-supporting assemblies are formed from a plurality of polycarbonate strip panels consisting of two opposing walls connected by ribs perpendicular to the same and mutually parallel and having lateral flanges converging towards the inside of the respective strip panel, the flanges of two adjacent strip panels being clamped against each other by means of an assembly profile in the form of a metal box-shaped upright with a cross-section substantially in the form of a U, the lateral sides of which have a matching shape with respect to the external shape of the said converging flanges of the profiles and, in the assembled state, clamp the said flanges against each other with elastic preloading.
With the self-supporting assemblies disclosed in the abovementioned patent, it is therefore possible to construct only horizontal or vertical, or at any rate slanting, enclosure walls, which in any case have a flat surface. A further limitation of the known strip panels is that they have a relatively low insulation factor.